Blogs from Echuca, Victoria, Australia, Oceania - page 2

We are one day from the end of our holiday. We have spent the last four days traveling southward home. There isn't much to be said about travelling. On Sunday we arrived at Coonabaraban at around lunchtime, as planned, because we wanted to visit the telescope at Siding Springs. Coonabarabran claims to be the astronomical capital of Australia, so our visit here was of particular interest to Frank, how is a keen amateur astronomer. As we were checking in to the John Oxley Caravan Park, we found a brochure advertising viewings through private telescopes belonging to a former manager of Siding Springs, so we booked in for that as well. The drive up to Siding Springs was very pleasant, offering spectacular views of the Warrumbungle National Park and an amusing array of roadside letter boxes. It ... read more

July 2014” Since our ‘The Wrong Way Around Trip’…well…basically I have been ‘slack’! Yes, we have done a few trips, but, I have not completed any Blogs for you all to follow us, sorry! Mostly our trips have been within Victoria and centred around the High Country and the Murray Valley, although one trip we did should have been written up and that was to the Birdsville Races last September, (Schoolies Week for over 55YO’s without high rise buildings to get into strife on!) . This was a fantastic trip with a number of highlights for us. From home (in Echuca) we headed north to Hay and onto Wilcannia, a historic town on the Darling River. It is hard to believe when you look at the state of the mighty Darling that this was a busy ... read more

Signs we have seen along the way Our fantastic trip “The Wrong Way Around’ has finished and we have settled on a base in Echuca, Victoria, on the Murray where we already have the map out planning our next trip. Birdsville Races in September are looking good, but we also want to return to the Flinders Ranges, a place we love and one of the most underrated regions within Australia. Anyway, on our travels we took quite a few photos of signs. Some were just demonstrating remoteness, others information, others were quirky and some were just plain unique. We wanted to share a few of these with you that we hope you find of interest for one reason or another and so here they are are..enjoy!... read more

The south east coast of NSW is really quite beautiful with stunning beaches and national parks everywhere. We have just been cruising on down, stopping at the small towns on the way, walking their boardwalks, strolling their white sandy beaches and viewing their turquoise coloured bays. Campsite tonight is high on a hill overlooking the twinkling lights of the next town that we will visit tomorrow which is called Bega, famous for its cheese so the cheese factory tour is most definitely on our tick list! One of my Christmas presents was an electric keyboard, something that I have been harping on about wanting to play for more years than I care to remember so if all goes to plan and I practice as I should I may be able to play something on it maybe ... read more

On top of the old slag heap above the town of Broken Hill is the Miners Memorial, a tribute to the more than 700 miners that have died since the zinc-lead-silver deposit was discovered in 1883. The Broken Hill itself has almost entirely disappeared and been replaced by a large slag heap. BHP Billiton started here, but worked out its claim by 1939. The ore body is approximately shaped like a large boomerang on edge and BHP had the middle on/near the surface. The two ends are still being mined, but the miners are now Chinese and Japanese firms, and the mining is underground. The town has lots of old buildings, but nothing as spectacular as Kalgoorlie. On the 26th we came south to Mildura on the Murray River, and into Victoria for the first time. ... read more